Navigator ((Atzura and Kolath))

Crinth nodded and looked to Ada as the commander left. â??Iâ??m glad you are back where you want to be, and that you arenâ??t a spy.â? He smiled and then nodded before turning and leaving her to her staff. His mind started to go through the list of pilots he knew personally and realized that only one of them he knew their flight ability.

Going quickly to his computer console he started to look up flight data picking out some of the best pilots for this squad. He smiled and took a moment to look up Okitaâ??s record and found it highly impressive. He quickly added her name to the top of the list that he wanted as part of the squad. Finishing the list of those wanted and those he suggested he forwarded it to the commander and then went to go check out his ship.

The hanger was dark except for the lights in his ship. He started going over maintenance checklists making sure everything was being done.

Several days passed. Crinth hadn't heard much from Ada at all, although it was nice to meet the pilot she had such a hard time getting along with. Ada was running up and down, from resigning her old job to getting her navigator status back. Adrianna also agreed to pay her more as Cheif of Weapons and Developments, so technically, Ada was a big shot, making one of the larger checks in Lunar Seis. She hired over 20 new scientists, all capable people who just needed a little training. She divided them between her two experts, and the weapons development lab was at full power. However, they'd need a larger lab very soon.

Finally Crinth got a frequency call from someone. It wasn't Ada though. "Hey, it's been a while since we've talked. I have scheduled a weekly flight with you in about twenty minutes. I can't wait to navigate you into victory. Anyway, see you soon." It was definitely Xenia.

Crinth rolled out of bed â??Yeah Iâ??ll be there.â? It was not what he had been hoping for but he had his duty to fulfill. Pulling on his uniform he headed out to the flight deck. Jumping into the fighter he started through the preflight. Pulling his helmet on he flicked over to his navigator channel. â??Running through the preflight now Xenia.â?

"Everything looks good to go Crinth. We're going to take a quick and quiet flight around the premesis. Don't worry, nothing wrong is going to happen. I've got my eyes looking out for you."

"Ada reporting. All system are indeed go."

"Who? Hey, I know you, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I am his secondary, and original navigator."

"How did you even know about this flight?"

"He's my pilot, I make it my job to know what he's doing, and when he's doing it..." She said, clicking in. "Crinth, try to remember that your shields are up, they consume a little more power, so don't try rushing through this, I know you've been looking at this for a very long time, but just try to enjoy the view of this so-called outer space. Are you ready to go?"

Xenia was growing upset, "Stop talking to him like that! You're a secondary, I'll handle this flight, you can go back to sleep or something."

"I'll pass. Again, Crinth, take off when ready."

Crinth couldnâ??t help but smirk a little as he listened to the two girls basically fight over him. After all what guy wouldnâ??t want two very hot girls fighting over him like this. â??Launching.â? He throttled up to full and then released the clamps, his ship rocketed forward up the launch tube before bursting out the other side above the moon in a low orbit. This was more like it, all this drama over the past few days was just too much being out here among the stars was just niceâ?¦and the girls fighting for him in his ear made it better.

"Okay, this is pretty much your basic flight pattern, we are just going to check your ships resistance to several different things, and we'll take a look at top speed. You need to start moving at higher speeds as we progress."

"Enough of your babbling Ada. I'm bringing up the heat level now. Crinth, don't worry, I'll make sure to turn it off before you fry."

"Crinth... in case this woman burns you alive. It wasn't too bad meeting you. I hoped you'd be taller though."

"SHUT UP!" Yelled Xenia, bringing up the heat levels. It simulated what taking heavy fire would feel like, and the moments before the ship would explode. "Okay honey, look over your head, you will realize that the heat level will increase dramatically." She said, as the temperature went from a comfortable 65 degrees to nearly double the heat.

"Xenia... you're going to fry him..."

"Look over your head, is the green eject emergency button blinking?"

Crinth sighed as the girls argued over what was being done. He did as he was told just living through the heat and looking up to the eject button, which was in fact blinking. â??Yes, not surprising since you are pushing the edges of the heat capacity for the ship. Doing this could cause the weapons or engine to overload I am going ot have to insist that you take it back down.â?

"Xenia, decrease the heat..." Ada said calmly, a yawn heard through her voice.

"He can handle a bit more, his ship is special."

"Fine, I'm overriding."

"You can't override me!"

Immediately the heat started to decrease, it was still hot and sweat had worked it's way onto his flesh.

"I like my meat rare, not well done."

"Ada, I'm telling the Commander that you're following illegal procedures out here!"

"Tell her. I'm doing something for her she wouldn't mess around with me for. Tell her and watch nothing happen."

Ada turned on her station, watching the radar. "Crinth, you have an unknown ship near you. It's a fighter. Holy... it's a Gomer. A lone Gomer is not very likely. It's definitely manned."

In moments the enemy aircraft came into sight. It was hovering akwardly, there was either no pilot in there, or the pilot was not skilled at all. An unmanned Gomer ship wouldn't float around like that.

"Crinth, fire on it now!" Yelled Xenia, Ada butting in. "Hold on, it's trying to send a message. I am running a translator now. Give me fifteen seconds. Stay alert."

"What the fuck do you mean stay alert!? I'm not losing another pilot because of you Ada! Crinth, fire on that ship, it has weaponry and can shoot at you. It's coming closer! Fire at it now!"

"Give me five more second's Crinth..." Called Ada, this two navigator business would drive any pilot crazy.

"Shoot your fucking lasers idiot! It's going to close in and fire at you!"

As the cockpit started to cool Crinth sighed deeply. â??Thank you Ada.â? He started to breathe easier when the radar in his ship picked up the single fighter. He activated his shields and weapons lining up for a shot on the ship. â??Chill both of you! Ada work on that transmission, Xenia work on making sure that there are no otherâ??s trying to creep up on me and the base. My shields can absorb one solid hit if they have too and if this bastard shoots he is as good as dead.â?

The ship floated on, not really showing much activity at all. Ada got the message translated. "Hold on Crinth. It simply says: "Lost. Me need help. Gomer I escaped. Do not know to pilot in space. Very scared. Help." It's slightly off, being that Gomerian is different than English... but it's still the same general message. It could be a rebel in there, or perhaps an escaped slave? Maybe even a human who learned Gomerian languages." "JUST BLAST HIM TO HELL!" Yelled Xenia. "I'm overriding your lasers. I'm not letting this guy kill you!" "Xenia... you don't have an override for his lasers." Ada said bluntly, "Crinth, I don't think it's going to fire on you. There should be a space transport nearby. If you want, I can prepare your claw reach and shoot it off in his direction. We can take him to the space transport, and see who is in the cockpit from there." "You idiot! You can't go to a space transport, you need Adrianna's approval for that!" "What do you think I'm getting now?" She answered, a blinking noise making itself present. "Your claw reach is ready Crinth... I synced your microphone with a universal translator. It's buggy, but it can work. In five seconds, say something to that pilot. You can ask a question, or let him know that we are taking him to the closest transport. Dom just approved in Adrianna's behalf."

Crinth had already started to move into position to launch the grapple when Xenia went off like a powder keg. He momentarily flicked the comm. to mute as he lined up his shot. The grapple had a built in comm. tap that would allow it to transmit the message. The hook dug into the side of the ship being careful to preserve pressure. â??Attention Gomer fighter, We are pulling you to a ship that can retrieve you. Kill your engines and all your power except life support. Any move made by your ship without my permission and I will blow you out of the stars and pick up the pieces later.â? He set his engines to reverse and activated his comm. again to report. â??I have the ship in tow and heading for the rendezvous point.â? He hoped that the two girls had stopped arguing by now.

"Alright. Good work Crinth. I am going to notify the transport of our arrival and the Gomer with you. Xenia, can you give him coords?"

Xenia gasped, "Do you think I'm some novice?"

"Nevermind, just sent them to him. A navigator has a job to do, we put our personalities aside and become machines. That's why I didn't want to meet him. Now he knows what I look like."

"Yeah, and he's having nightmares, you and your boy short hair."

Ada didn't answer for a while, "At least my hair is real."

"WHAT!"

Crinth just sighed and continued to tow the fighter to the point that the transport waited for them. The transfer went smoothly and he clicked over with the girls. â??Ladies the Gomer ship is transferred to the transport. Iâ??m coming back in can one of you set up my docking procedures?â?

A transport was a large, sort of public point in several parts of space. Often times they were left unused, as races would likely collide and clash. However, on today's date, there'd be activity. Transports were massive, but the main use for them was refueling, and possibly resting. Once Ada notified the transport, it opened it's gates and welcomed them both inside.

"What the hell do you mean you're coming back? You have a fucking Gomer over there!" Yelled Xenia, "Permission and docking proceedures not granted."

"I have to agree with her Crinth. While you are both docked in the transport, try communicating with the Gomer. Just be careful... in honest truth, I am not sure of what they look like."

"Take your gun with you, and don't hesitate to shoot if he even glares at you!"

Crinth growled softly as it was made clear again to him that he still didnâ??t understand how they could call these stations transports. That is not what the word meant but he wasnâ??t the one to make the change in terminology. He always had his pistol at his side, so he finally popped his canopy and came out to slowly walk over to the fighter. He tapped on the enemies canopy and waited for whoever it was to climb out.

Their canopy opened as well, a blue smokey emitted from inside, indicating some damage to the ship if the smoke wasn't some sort of inhalant weapon. As the cover removed itself, he heard a small alarm inside, but no one came out. There was someone in there though, and it was most definitely a Gomer.

Crinthâ??s pistol was out and he leveled it at the Gomer slowly moving forward. â??Easy does it, we brought you on this station as a show of good faith you wouldnâ??t want to ruin that would you?â? he slowly moved toward the apparently female Gomer through the thick smoke. He flicked on his camera used mostly for long distance recon, and recording planetary conditions. Right now he was beaming the images back to Ada and Xenia so they could report on what was happening.

She looked slightly lost. As if she wasn't all there, she was also obviously and for the most part nude. Asdie from a cloth neckpiece, wrist sleeves and footwear, she was nude. Right off the bat there was dozens of interesting features. Her hair was human-like, her body was very much humanoid. Although her pygmentation was a bluish hue, she had everything, a little more than everything, that your average human would have. She had spiraled horns with red tips. She had red markings on her cheek, and her eyes, were bizzare, slit pupils which usually had something to do with amphibians and according to history, evil. She also wore glasses, which made things seem like Gomers were just blue humans with horns.

"Crinth! What are you doing! Kill her!" Yelled Xenia over his headpiece. "She's dangerous! The Gomer's have poison in their body! And we don't have any antidotes!"

Ada interrupted, "She's somewhat right. This is my first time seeing a Gomer. This one's either female or possibly hermaphrodite if her body alters. The Gomer poison is believed to be in their saliva. So don't get too close if you don't need to. If she spits in your direction, cover your eyes. Does she speak our language? Is she armed?"

The Gomer wasn't armed, it didn't seem so. She didn't even make eye contact. She seemed to be panting and prespiring quite heavily as well. There was a distinct scent, not exactly a bad odor, but a strong smell, likely from her sweating.

â??Enough Xenia she hasnâ??t done anything hostile yet. I will be careful but she hasnâ??t done anything yet so I wonâ??t kill her for nothing.â? He lowered his gun but didnâ??t put it away yet. Kneeling down on one knee he held his hand out toward her slowly. He looked into her eyes trying to make it clear he meant no harm. â??Tell the containment team to hurry and lock off this hanger. We donâ??t want the word to get out yet about this girl.â?

The Gomer cringed slightly when he got closer, and weakly tried to protect herself. It didn't take long before she noticed that he wasn't a real threat to her, he still had a weapon though.

"Ioco non samo unc enemic... Non mec matec..."

She spoke in Gomerian, a language Lunar Seis had to get learning since most of them probably besides Adrianna herself knew nothing about.

Her hands were raised slightly, as if to avoid confrontation. She also showed an expression of discomfort. Perhaps at him getting closer, or the fact that she was nude.

He saw the discomfort and slipped his side arm back into its holster. Holding his hands up showing they were empty. â??Its ok, just relax Iâ??m not going to hurt you.â? He spoke calmly, hoping that even if she couldnâ??t understand him she might pick up on his tone. Clicking his mic back on, â??Ada do we have anyone that can understand Gomerian?â?

"I can try uploading a generally public translation system, but it's going to take a long time."

Xenia sighed, "Just shoot her in the face! Don't you see she's waiting for a moment to poison you!?"

"The Gomers are usually pretty advanced it seems. I'm sure she'll understand your gesturing. If you want the most knowledgeable person, you'd have to speak to Commander Adrianna. I can try her frequency, but from a transport, the static will probably cut us off. If she is in fact not threatening you, and truly a Gomer, which she would have to be, this is a breakthrough. They are amongst the most hostile races in the galaxies we've come to explore and learn about. I think she's very beautiful. Wonder what the men look like."

"Do you hear her?! Fuck this! Crinth, shoot her and get out of there before it's too late!"

"Okay, according to our library, the Gomer are well versed in languages. They have a node on their brains that we also share. However, in our brain, it's not active. It helps their hearing, they understand communications universally. Meaning, Gomer ears understand every language. If this hold's true, she knows what you're saying, she just doesn't know our language to talk back to you. Maybe she thinks you can understand her. But she probably knows that you don't now. Ask try to ask her yes or no questions, a head nod and a shaking of the head are generally the same in all languages, yes and no are terms that don't really alter."

The Gomerian woman (apparently, it still wasn't classified just yet. Aliens and all), slowly started standing after he said that he wasn't going to hurt her. She was about his height, perhaps an inch taller, and her body was muscular, yet very fatty at points. Definitely humanoid. She was displaying weak knees, perhaps she was dizzy as she grabbed onto the closest thing to her. She raised her hand, her five digits spread as if for him to stop, then she very slowly started to move closer, her hand extended. No one was sure where their venom was, or if they had venom, but this woman seemed to be on to the move.

â??Shut up Xenia, Iâ??m not going to shot her because you are scared of getting a black mark on your record. If I make a mistake and end up dying at least we will understand them a little better so the next pilot wonâ??t have this problem. Ada up load that translation matrix I want to try everything to understand what sheâ??s saying.â?

As she stood and started walked toward him hand held out. He put his hand out in a similar gesture. â??Careful, I hope you understand me, because this is a very tense situation, and if someone miss understands the otherâ??s actionsâ?¦.well a lot of things that I donâ??t want to happen could happen.â? He looked into her eyes seeing if she could understand him.

The Gomer reached for his hand and immediately a hard shock was sent through his body. It didn't hurt, it was just uncomfortable. Instinctively however, his hand pulled away, and she looked down at her hand, flexing her fingers slowly. Did she poison him? Did she use some sort of micro weapon on him? Her touch was pretty much like a human's, just slighty colder.

"Crinth what the hell just happened, you just disappeared from our radar and showed up again. Are you alright?" Called Ada, Xenia yelling into the microphone,

"I told you to shoot her! She's poisoning you! Damn it kill her!"

Crinth leaned back against the wall gasping slightly. He blinked a couple times to set his vision right shaking his head to clear it. though it had nto really hurt the shock had played a bit with his nervous system. â??Shut up for a second, both of you!â? his head was ringing with their words and the shock. He finally was about to stand and looked back at the Gomer slowly gaining full use of his body again. â??Iâ??m fine I think. Just a shock, donâ??t know if it was a built up charge from the ship or what but Iâ??m fine, it probably played with the transmitter.â?